Model Train Set

"You have to watch these things. You can't let them get out of control."

Writer: Jonathan Blum

Format: Short Story

Released: March 1998

Printed in: Short Trips 01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor

Synopsis

From Neolitch Earth to the furthest reaches of the universe in the far future, Short Trips brings together established Doctor Who authors and first-time writers in a collection of stories exploring the ever-changing worlds of the Doctor and his friends.

Witness the last days of the siege of Masada with the First Doctor and meet the Fourth Doctor's extraordinary 'old flame'. An evil enemy makes life difficult for the Seventh and Third Doctors, and while the Fifth Doctor is under attack on a sinister ship shrouded in fog, the Second may soon be guilty of a grave error of judgement... The Sixth Doctor's hopes of a holiday are dashed when he discovers a pleasure planet is hiding a shocking secret, and the Eighth Doctor is caught up in a deadly drama played out during the construction of Stonehenge.

And, of course, that's just the beginning...

Verdict

Model Train Set was a good and interesting little story to kick off the first ever book of Short Trips! Of course, this range goes on to grow quite rapidly and I have covered a number of stories from a number of different collections, both in prose and on audio, but I finally managed to obtain a copy of the first volume for a very cheap price and couldn't wait to get started here. I think it was good to start with the Eighth Doctor and I like the simplicity of the adventure. That's definitely a good approach to take when you have a story that is only ten pages long because there really isn't an awful lot you can put into what is essentially a chapter. I like how this represents the childish nature of the Doctor that we love and adore and just having him inside the TARDIS playing with a model train set is quite incredible. The fact there is a written story about that might be even more so. It's impressive and fun and I liked the parallels drawn in the story with what life would be like for the characters on the model train set and what the Doctor's life is like. He picks things up and changes them for the better. I liked that a lot and thought that was a clever use of the format and theme. There wasn't a huge amount to show that this was the eighth incarnation of the Doctor as I felt that the description of the recent incarnation mentioned could have been used for either the Sixth or Seventh Doctors, but the train set comes into play in the Eighth Doctor Adventures books so I'm very comfortable to accept this as an Eighth Doctor outing. Although, who am I to question? This was essentially seeing how the Doctor cured his boredom whilst travelling alone between journeys in the TARDIS and the care and detail he put into the train set was admirable. He wanted more though and he didn't want to be the only one able to exert control over the train and its passengers. He wanted characters so he fed a brand new system into the model train set that essentially brought it to life! I thought that was very Doctor-ish and just fun to think about, and to be honest I wouldn't expect anything less with no companion around to question him. The Doctor having exited the TARDIS presumably on a typical journey in time and space was good and I liked how in his absence the train set had gotten out of control and crashed into the papier-mâché mountains. Well, the Doctor was horrified! His efforts in helping the passengers and characters he had brought to life by simply bending down and picking up the fallen cars and train was amusing and quite the image, but he didn't want to see them suffering and work out how to overturn them for years. That was a nice little touch. Overall, I thought this was an intriguing read and a fun way to draw some comparisons, and certainly a solid and light-hearted way to start the book! 

Rating: 7/10